Spanish for Online Selling: Vocabulary, Email Templates, and Live Streaming

Two messages hit your shop the same morning. A customer in Madrid writes: 「Hola, ¿tenéis esta funda para mi móvil?」 A customer in Bogotá writes: 「Buenas, ¿tienen esta funda para mi celular?」 Both ask the same thing, but one says móvil and tenéis, the other celular and tienen, and you have to answer both in Spanish that is polite and does not sound off to either region.

Online sellers’ Spanish has something special compared to many other languages: the market is wide and spans many countries, so the same word can change by region. The core is stable, pedido, envío, devolución, reembolso, factura. What shifts by region is how you address people, some words like móvil and celular, and a few familiar names for tax or payment methods.

This article is for sellers serving Spanish-speaking customers in Spain and Latin America, on marketplaces, on social media, or in your own shop, and for anyone planning to go live. You get vocabulary tables from product page to live session, five grammar points Vietnamese speakers often trip on, three conversations, and how to practice when every week brings new orders.

• One shop’s Spanish: two markets, one shared frame
• Vocabulary, from ficha de producto to the live session
• Five grammar points sellers often stumble on
• Three conversations
• How to practice when every week has orders
• What sellers often ask
• Kick off this week

One shop’s Spanish: two markets, one shared frame

You do not need to learn two languages. You need one shared frame, then know what changes by region so you can pick wording that fits the customer. The table below is the differences you see most often in sales chat, and they are common patterns, not hard rules.

With strangers, usted is the default in both regions. The safe move is usted in one-to-one mail and messages, and let the customer switch to tú if they want. Some countries use vos instead of tú, for example in Argentina, but usted still fits with strangers.

When you do not know where the customer is, avoid words that scream one region and pick neutral terms. For example use teléfono or dispositivo instead of móvil or celular, and use ustedes when talking to the whole group in a live session, because Spaniards understand ustedes even if they say vosotros themselves.

Vocabulary, from ficha de producto to the live session

The tables follow the workflow: list a product, set price, take orders and ship, handle returns, then go live. The 40 words in the game sit in five tables, plus some high-frequency terms like compatible, IVA, contra reembolso, and punto de recogida.

Product page and shop

Talla is for clothes and sized items like straps or footwear; tamaño is about how big something is. For something like a phone case, people say modelo (phone model), not talla. Countries size differently too, so if you sell sized goods, put a clear conversion chart.

Price, offers, stock, and payment

Tax names differ by country. Spain and many Latin American countries use IVA, but some use other names, for example IGV in Peru. Rates and whether tax is shown separately on the invoice depend on each country’s rules and how you run the business, so ask your accountant instead of copying another shop. For contra reembolso, the same method may be called contra entrega in Latin America.

Customer, order, and shipping

Tell envío and entrega apart. Envío is you sending the goods out; entrega is when they reach the customer. If they ask 「¿Cuándo es la entrega?」 they mean when the package arrives, and you can answer 「Lo enviamos ayer」. Real timing depends on the courier and customs, so report status honestly from the tracking code.

Returns, reviews, and warranty

Reseña is common in Latin America; in Spain you will also see opinión or valoración on marketplaces. Reclamación means a more formal complaint than an everyday gripe, close to queja. That is a place to pick neutral wording if you do not know the customer’s region.

Live selling

In Spain you will often hear en directo or un directo for a live session; many Latin American countries say en vivo or una transmisión en vivo. Both are understood everywhere, and in this article transmisión en vivo is the neutral label.

Five grammar points sellers often stumble on

1. Usted and formal imperatives

With customers you use usted. Formal imperatives use the subjunctive endings: -ar verbs go to -e, -er and -ir verbs go to -a. Object pronouns attach after the verb and take an accent to keep stress.

• Indíqueme su número de pedido, por favor.
• Envíenos una foto del paquete.
• Espere un momento, por favor.

Vietnamese speakers often turn “you send me” into tú forms: envíame or dime, which sounds too casual with strangers. Another mistake is dropping the accent on attached pronouns, writing indiqueme instead of indíqueme. The accent marks that stress stays on that syllable even when the word gets longer.

2. ¿Podría, me gustaría: politeness with the conditional

The conditional softens requests. ¿Podría enviarme…? is softer than ¿Puede enviarme…?, and me gustaría or querría makes offers less blunt. In messages, quería preguntar (imperfect) is also a very common polite opener.

• ¿Podría enviarme una foto de la etiqueta?
• Me gustaría confirmar su dirección.
• ¿Le importaría esperar un momento?

A common mistake is using the indicative for every request: ¿Puede enviarme…?, ¿Quiere esperar…? The sentences are correct and not rude, but they sound more direct than fits a frustrated customer. Also do not translate “please” into begging; one por favor is enough.

3. Hemos enviado and enviamos: talking about what you already did

When you say you already shipped, Spain often uses pretérito perfecto, like hemos enviado, especially when it just happened. Many Latin American countries use pretérito indefinido, like enviamos ayer or ya salió su pedido. Both are correct; the issue is picking one and staying consistent in the same message.

• Hemos enviado su pedido esta mañana.
• Enviamos su pedido ayer por la tarde.
• Todavía no hemos recibido su pago.

Vietnamese speakers often use the present tense because Vietnamese says “I sent yesterday” without changing the verb, and write 「Envío su pedido ayer」. The sentence is grammatical but means “I send” in the present; the customer reads it as not done yet. When you mean yesterday or this morning, switch to one of those past tenses.

4. Ser, estar, and gender agreement

Spanish has two verbs for “to be” and “to be in a state”. Ser is essence or fixed traits, like a product being genuine. Estar is temporary state or result, like stock being out or something arriving damaged. Adjectives and participles agree in gender and number with the noun.

• Todos nuestros productos son auténticos.
• Ese color está agotado.
• La funda llegó dañada y las correas llegaron rotas.

Vietnamese speakers often use ser everywhere because “is” and “got damaged” map to one verb, and write 「Es agotado」 instead of 「Está agotado」. The second mistake is forgetting agreement, writing 「la funda dañado」. A quick check is the noun: funda is feminine so dañada, correa is feminine so rota, paquete is masculine so dañado.

5. Ustedes, plural imperatives, and live-session voice

In a live session you talk to the whole group. The most neutral form is ustedes with plural imperatives: miren, escriban, añadan. Spaniards have vosotros forms like mirad, escribid, and they understand both, but you do not need vosotros if you are not sure.

• Miren qué ligera es esta funda.
• Escriban sus preguntas en el chat.
• Quedan pocas unidades, así que añádanlas al carrito.

A common mistake is carrying one-to-one usted from DMs into the live, or mixing tú with ustedes in one sentence. With pronouns, affirmative imperatives attach them to the verb, like añádanlas, and need the accent. Keep ustedes from start to finish of the session for consistency.

Three conversations

Customer received the wrong model

This exchange happens in chat after delivery. Notice how the seller admits the mistake, asks for photos, then states what they will do next. Read both roles aloud.

Color sold out and cash on delivery

Live session showcasing cases and watch straps

How to practice when every week has orders

Play the online-selling word set in Falling Stars or Pop It to load vocabulary, then read the example sentences aloud with their articles. Spanish is written as it is spoken, so reading aloud can work fast: you notice accents, verb rhythm, and masculine and feminine endings.

For listening, pick one episode from the Spanish podcast, listen sentence by sentence, transcribe, and compare to the original. Transcribing shows where your ear slips, especially verb endings and short words like le, la, se. Courses give you a path and the vocabulary test shows where you stand.

A habit that fits a small shop: every time you reply to a customer, save the reply in a file, note which region they are from, and mark which words are regional. After a month you have template messages for each situation and know what to swap when the customer’s region changes.

Outside WELE: the Real Academia Española dictionary (DLE) is free and the standard for checking meaning; WordReference helps with examples and forums; the Easy Spanish channel has bilingual subtitles for natural listening. Machine translation helps you grasp messages quickly, but read it again before you send, especially usted and regional terms. When you want a benchmark, DELE mock tests on WELE give you one.

If you also handle sourcing or content, see Spanish for sourcing and Spanish for content work. The full profession hub is at Spanish by profession, and the online selling page collects related articles.

What sellers often ask

What DELE level do you need to sell to Spanish-speaking customers?

There is no universal bar, because it depends whether you reply yourself or have help. What helps more is understanding customer questions and having a set of template messages checked by a native speaker.

Should you use usted or tú with customers?

With strangers in mail and one-to-one chat, usted is the safe choice in both Spain and Latin America. In live sessions or on social media, a warmer tone is common, so watch shops in your niche. Some countries use vos, but with strangers you can still use usted.

Can you write one message for both Spain and Latin America?

Yes, if you pick neutral words. Use teléfono instead of móvil or celular, ustedes when addressing a group, and avoid slang. When you know where the customer is, swapping a few words by region is enough.

Do VAT and cash on delivery differ by country?

Yes, and rules change over time. This article does not give specific rates. Read your marketplace’s current guidance and ask your accountant before you put it on the product page.

What are marketplace fees and import tax into Spanish-speaking countries?

This article does not give numbers because they differ by country, marketplace, product type, and timing. Read the marketplace and carrier help pages that are current before you tell the customer.

Kick off this week

This week try answering the same question for two customers, one in Spain and one in Latin America, swap a few words by region, then open Falling Stars to load vocabulary.